If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Hopefully whatever they did do with Melendy was well done. No offense intended to Andy Mangels, but the commentary tracks on the She-Ra sets were pretty boring. Random questions often not suited to the people answering, basic info about animation being discussed...that sort of thing. I say that, again, not trying to be catty...but I was really let down with those tracks. If you get the right people in the room, that's 75% of the work. At least ask them the right questions, you know?

As the person who tried to deal with Melendy (someone else at BCI might have as well) I can tell you that money was her ONLY concern. That's not necessarily a bad thing on one level, but she was offended by what was a generous offer. Voice actors are paid very well, and since we were asking for her voice, she wanted industry standard, which was above the budget for most of the shoot... As for documentary interviews, she agreed to do those ONLY if we would either put her in shadow or not show her face as she didn't want fans to see that she had aged...

Your comments about the commentaries are your opinions, and you're welcome to them, but James Eatock prepped the questions, and corraling the participants is a lot harder than one would think. The SOTS commentary was tremendously difficult. Nobody in the room had seen the show for almost 20 years.

Originally Posted by Emiliano

I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, but this once again, proves what happens when you don't involve people that actually care abotu the brand.
BCI did great at involving us and Andy. We all worked together as an awesome team to create the best DVD sets possible.

Totally agree Emiliano - We had a superb team working together on those sets.

Originally Posted by MegaGearMax

Yeah, guys...go on eBay, Amazon or Craig's List and buy the BCI versions instead. You get DVD releases that were actually crafted with care from fans with interviews, artwork from professional comic artists, episode scripts, bios, artifacts, vehicles, monsters, DVD commentary, factoids...it's simply amazing what was put into those releases.
Emilliano, BCI Guy, Val, Alessandra, Busta Toons and whomever else was involved in the old DVD's...please stand up and take a bow. This release is exactly the crap that we get if fans aren't handling MOTU stuff. Your stuff from 2006-2008 blows this afterthought out of the water.

Whomever else... other than those you mention, that would mostly be me and Reed Kaplan, my co-producer. Thanks for the kind words.

Best,
Andy Mangelswww.andymangels.comvisit my site to see lots of cool He-Man, She-Ra, and Filmation DVD goodies!

And although I've taken my share of mud in the past from certain people on this forum, I made sure that EVERYBODY who worked on the docs not only got credited there, but in the booklets as well if at all possible. Ditto anyone that Val or Emil or James told me helped them got credits as well.

There were many MANY discussions about certain people wanting some people to be left out or deleted or non-credited, but I always stood behind making sure people got properly thanked.

Best,
Andy Mangelswww.andymangels.comvisit my site to see lots of cool He-Man, She-Ra, and Filmation DVD goodies!

Great to gave you back Andy even for clearing up some things about Melendy.

You are a true professional at what you do. Not only on the MOTU/POP universe but in many others as well. I visit your webpage from time to time trying to get any update on the biography book of Mr. Lou Scheimer.

You dont happen by any chance have an update on that book?

Will it be sold exclusively at SDCC 2011 or will it be available prior on Amazon as well? We have been waiting for it for years! Since it was announced.

That's quite offensive, Andy. However much work you put in, don't presume that anyone else's contribution is any less important. From my point-of-view, the She-Ra sets wouldn't have been half what they became without mine and James' work.

I've always been grateful for your support in getting us properly credited, so up until your second post, I presumed I was simply forgotten about because I'm not as present on these forums and haven't updated The Ultimate She-Ra Guide in many years. Your use of the word 'mostly' denigrates the work I put in. It might have been better to acknowledge that you had forgotten the work I put in (as I imagine you had- it's a good few years ago after all), rather than quantifying your workload against mine.

I think your work is superb and so to see someone I'm a fan of make such a throwaway comment is somewhat upsetting.

Great to gave you back Andy even for clearing up some things about Melendy.

You are a true professional at what you do. Not only on the MOTU/POP universe but in many others as well. I visit your webpage from time to time trying to get any update on the biography book of Mr. Lou Scheimer.

You dont happen by any chance have an update on that book?

Will it be sold exclusively at SDCC 2011 or will it be available prior on Amazon as well? We have been waiting for it for years! Since it was announced.

Is it ready to be released with no other delays?

Can't guarantee no further delays, but we're doing everything we can to make sure it makes it through the difficult pipeline this time out.

And it will be available through Amazon and at all comic stores as well. it will just debut at Comic-Con. Hopefully with Lou there.

Originally Posted by Scorpia

That's quite offensive, Andy. However much work you put in, don't presume that anyone else's contribution is any less important. From my point-of-view, the She-Ra sets wouldn't have been half what they became without mine and James' work.

I've always been grateful for your support in getting us properly credited, so up until your second post, I presumed I was simply forgotten about because I'm not as present on these forums and haven't updated The Ultimate She-Ra Guide in many years. Your use of the word 'mostly' denigrates the work I put in. It might have been better to acknowledge that you had forgotten the work I put in (as I imagine you had- it's a good few years ago after all), rather than quantifying your workload against mine.

I think your work is superb and so to see someone I'm a fan of make such a throwaway comment is somewhat upsetting.

I'm sorry you took offense at the word, and I'm sorry for forgetting to list you in the original post. I even had to do some detective work on the forums to figure out who "Scorpia" was, since, as you note, it's been several years since those sets were done, and almost two years since I was last here.

No offense was intended. Perhaps MegaGearMax meant no offense in his post either by forgetting to list you, Reed, myself, or any of the others who worked on the sets. I chose to look at his words that way rather than to take offense.

As for my "support in getting us properly credited," as you may or may not know, I'm the main reason you were credited. You can chat with James about that if you want confirmation. Certain other people wanted you (and James) left off. I worked very hard to make sure credit was given where it was due, for everyone.

Perhaps you can just chalk the omissions or unintentional offense of the previous post to it being around 4am, and I was tired, and didn't take the time to drag out the booklets (which I made sure you and others were credited in) to make sure I credited everyone again?

Again, you have my apologies.

Last edited by Andy Mangels; December 4, 2010 at 07:47pm.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost

Best,
Andy Mangelswww.andymangels.comvisit my site to see lots of cool He-Man, She-Ra, and Filmation DVD goodies!

I appreciate your apology Andy. I didn't take offence at not being remembered first time- as I said, the offence was highlighting 'mostly' in such a way that seemed to imply that fans' work was of lesser importance than others. Heightened because of my admiration for your work, but let's let bygones be bygones.

As a lifelong fan, it was an honour to be asked and became a labour of love for me - the sets couldn't have existed in the way they do without the meticulous fan-input, so to me it makes perfect sense that everyone is credited for their contribution. I do know that you were instrumental in getting us credited, as I said, and thank you for that. I was aware others wanted us left off (although I know not who and hope it was simply the 'powers-that-be' at BCI) - sadly, this is business and things like this happen all-too-often in an industry that can be very cut-throat. Hopefully those execs or whoever they were would think twice before trying to do something similar on other pieces of work.

I'm not holding my breath for these new sets, particularly since we don't know of any contact the company have had with fans, but I'm trying to keep an open-mind that they might just surprise us with something.

I haven't checked this thread out in a little while and voila - big news!

I'm really, honestly stunned and disappointed to hear that some of the people who'd helped work on the awesome sets almost didn't get any credit for it! Why? Well, that's none of my business...but even in the business world, if all someone wants is for their little portion of help to be recognized with a credit, what's the big deal? This is the first time I'm hearing about any of this...my heart goes out to you, Scorpia and Busta...and my admiration goes to you Andy for sticking to your guns. You did the right thing!

Your comments about the commentaries are your opinions, and you're welcome to them, but James Eatock prepped the questions, and corraling the participants is a lot harder than one would think. The SOTS commentary was tremendously difficult. Nobody in the room had seen the show for almost 20 years.

Thank you for your reply to my comments. I have to admit, the first time (the only time?) I listened to those commentaries, I was so filled with excitement and anticipation over the nuggets that might be mentioned, or the stories that might be shared, that when the conversation had to rely on discussing the basics of animation just to fill the track, I felt like critical time was being wasted.

That said, Andy, I really don't mean to be catty or to sound judgmental. I'm sure I don't know all the effort and passion you and the others put into this project, and regardless of any small flaws, the end result is nothing short of spectacular, really truly. The mural was genius, the "Fun Facts" were pure GOLD (I still love reading them - how many hours were spent pouring over scripts to include these!?!) and as you said, just corralling everyone into a room to record a track is an accomplishment in itself. So while I can't back down on my criticism of the commentary track, just know it's coming from someone who freaked out the day he bought volume one, and then again, the day he bought volume two and then again the day he bought volume three.

And continues to freak out a little inside every time he gets to watch another episode of She-Ra.

As the person who tried to deal with Melendy (someone else at BCI might have as well) I can tell you that money was her ONLY concern. That's not necessarily a bad thing on one level, but she was offended by what was a generous offer. Voice actors are paid very well, and since we were asking for her voice, she wanted industry standard, which was above the budget for most of the shoot... As for documentary interviews, she agreed to do those ONLY if we would either put her in shadow or not show her face as she didn't want fans to see that she had aged...

As for Melendy...well, those insights into your experiences trying to communicate with her don't paint a flattering image. From the more recent interviews, she comes off like an actress from another time, very dignified and polite. I don't think any less of her for not wanting to do something for less pay than she believes she's worth, or even for being concerned with how she'd be viewed by the now-grown up (and opinionated!) children of the 80s. Remember the flack Dini took for wearing a shirt on the He-Man set that was covered in fresh-from-the-package fold lines? And he isn't even an actor!

As for Melendy...well, those insights into your experiences trying to communicate with her don't paint a flattering image. From the more recent interviews, she comes off like an actress from another time, very dignified and polite. I don't think any less of her for not wanting to do something for less pay than she believes she's worth, or even for being concerned with how she'd be viewed by the now-grown up (and opinionated!) children of the 80s. Remember the flack Dini took for wearing a shirt on the He-Man set that was covered in fresh-from-the-package fold lines? And he isn't even an actor!

BTW, another fun fact...

Alan Oppenheimer didn't want his face shown either, for the same age reasons, even though he does public signings. I managed to snap one or two shots of him at the commentary track, but it's why you didn't get him in the documentaries!

BTW, just looked back though my notes, and that commentary was done on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 12:30 in the afternoon. There's some really obscure trivia!

Best,
Andy Mangelswww.andymangels.comvisit my site to see lots of cool He-Man, She-Ra, and Filmation DVD goodies!

Hey - that's always good to know! It's funny, but I always pictured Alan being in his 80s or something, so I don't see why he'd be worried about appearances. Maybe that was just an excuse folks were using to not have to give more time to the project..??

I just happened to come across some info on another board regarding your attempts to contact Shuki Levy while prepping the DVDs. Didn't know you'd tried. Thanks for that as well! We all would have loved to hear about his work on the series!

Alan Oppenheimer didn't want his face shown either, for the same age reasons, even though he does public signings. I managed to snap one or two shots of him at the commentary track, but it's why you didn't get him in the documentaries!

Interesting. Last time we've seen him, was in the BBC's "I love 1983" during 2003. Don't know if he remembered that, but I'm sure fans wouldn't be off-put by three years added to that. (still, comes off rather weird, as far as I look at it)

This is an interesting thread to read as I was involved with writing episode descriptions, profiles and trivia notes for a few boxsets, namely Defenders of the Earth, Dungeons & Dragons and The New Adventures of He-Man, thanks to James Eatock. Years later, it's fun to go back and look at that work.

The New Adventures of He-Man is a show I very much love, so I was really glad to be involved with producing that material. From an ego point of view, I had to be the one responsible for doing it, I would've felt that it wouldn't have been done just right by anyone else.

I can pick some flaws with the stuff I wrote, as I can with the material on the other boxsets, but I think the average person will look at it as being good. It was very much written in a certain house style, which sometimes made it a bit of a handicap or obstacle to work around, but I think it was right for the intended audience.

I don't know if I'm credited for everything I did, but I'm glad that my name is on the things I'd want it to be on. I know my picture was on the end of a documentary along with many others.

In the spirit of honesty and forthrightness, I'd say the only work I've been involved with that I've had my feelings hurt on is the commentary work I did on the Region 2 DVDs, and that was mainly because there was a feeling at the time that Zadoc Angell should've been there and not me. That wasn't possible for a number of reasons, one being that Zadoc would've had to fly across to do them, which wasn't going to happen. That said, those hurt feelings healed long ago and I look back on the work with a massive amount of fondness.

Interesting. Last time we've seen him, was in the BBC's "I love 1983" during 2003. Don't know if he remembered that, but I'm sure fans wouldn't be off-put by three years added to that. (still, comes off rather weird, as far as I look at it)

Actually, if memory serves me correctly, "I Love 1983" was actually produced and aired in the beginning of 2001 - I remember because the BBC held all my animation art material hostage...those sons of *****es!